"One of the beautiful bookstores in the world is really ours."

Valter Hugo Mãe

Once Upon a time...

... a Bookstore!

This bookshop is not just any bookstore, it is one of the biggest icons of the city of Oporto and considered one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Do you want to know it?

Come on!

Located on Carmelitas street, very close to the Porto University Rectory, we find the oldest bookshop in operation in the city of Oporto: Livraria Lello & Irmão.

Perhaps you imagine that this bookshop is dedicated only to the sale of books, but here, culture "declaims" loudly, and the range of cultural activities has no end in sight.

However, let's start at the beginning.

Despite the opening of the bookstore dating from January 13^th of 1906, it all started in the 19^th century, by the hand of Ernesto Chardron, a french bookseller. After playing and winning the Lottery, this remarkable man fulfills his dream of having a Bookstore: the Bookstore and Publisher Chardron. Search your great-grandparents' library and you may be lucky enough to find a book by Eça de Queirós or Camilo Castelo Branco, edited by Chardron !!!

In 1894, after Chardron's death, José Lello acquires his estate and with it the publishing rights of the acclaimed writers already referred to, which dictated the future of the Bookstore, which when it opened its doors in 1906, asserted itself as a publisher bookstore.

What to say about the building? A true Temple to the Arts! The Lello Brothers were lovers of culture, of the Arts, as such, they wanted the building to go beyond a simple repository of a great selection of books.

Whoever reaches the Bookshop today, rests his gaze on a neo-Gothic façade where the paintings representing Art and Science (José Bielman) stand out. Passing the door, we noticed that Art Nouveau and Art Deco dance harmoniously. And behold, the eyes are fixed on the staircase:

"Whoever walks through the room, then sees the staircase that is a piece of surprising attraction, by the appearance of lightness that covers the audacity of its conception. One feels the desire to climb it and one feels the fear that our weight bring it down." in the Descriptive Album, Livraria Chardron Lello & Irmão.

In recent restoration works, the signature of Francisco Xavier Esteves, author of the design of the building and the staircase itself, the first to be built in reinforced concrete in Portugal, was discovered on the staircase.

It was this staircase that led the imagination of several visitors to believe that J.K.Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter books, had been inspired by the bookstore to describe the staircases at Hogwarts School. Whether or not, the truth is that thousands of visitors come looking for the famous "Harry Potter Bookshop", as they call it.

Looking up, it is a profusion of colors: the stained glass, 8 meters long and 3.5 meters wide, built by the oldest Portuguese stained glass workshop, Vidraria Antunes, bears the monogram of the Lello Brothers, where Decus in Labore is read, which means Dignity at Work - golden rule in the House. The late Dutch architect Van Krieken, today would be astonished to find a small detail added by the team that recently restored the work of which he was the author. When you go to the bookstore don't forget to look for it - what will it be?

At first glance, we suppose that we are surrounded by wood, but just a little touch in some points, like the ornaments of the famous staircase, and we realize that we are facing painted plaster. The same happens on the ceiling, or on the set of low reliefs where the Lello Brothers are represented and the busts of some of the most important writers, such as Eça de Queirós and Guerra Junqueiro, who was present on the opening day in 1906, having even taken the word.

Since 2015, the bookstore has a new administration, with the Pedro Pinto Family acquiring the majority of the share capital. New projects have emerged and today the bookshop offers a range of valences in the cultural field:

- the temporary room that was once dedicated to the Harry Potter books, Pinocchio and which aims to celebrate other classics of literature;

- the Gemma Room where we find rare and old books, many of them for sale (those who travel in the enchanted world of books, will certainly not be able to retain the tear that will insist on falling when they see first editions of great books in national and international literature) ;

- Story Time;

- books presentations, gatherings;

- the installation Rosto do Porto with 400 clay busts from Oporto personalities (such as Álvaro Siza Vieira) and anonymous citizens;

- temporary exhibitions, such as LUCKY 13, where 13 very rare first editions are on display, such as The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. And if you are thinking that I was wrong in the language, get it wrong, it's totally correct. Curious? Just go to Livraria Lello & Irmão and the friendly staff will explain this curiosity.

When visiting, look for the part-shares (of a lottery ticket) of the 20s to the 40s of the last century, which were glued by the Booksellers of the time.

Lello Bookstore is visited by thousands of people every month. To visit you need to show the voucher. If you want to avoid queues, buying tickets online is recommended.

Livraria Lello & Irmão sells 700,000 books to the 1,200,000 readers who visit it each year ... And to think that Chardron dreamed of making the world read ...

Find more attractions and guided tours in Porto.

Enjoy and explore Curiosities about Lello Bookstore in Porto.